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Whistle-Blower Says Russian Troops Fed Dog Food

Russian Interior Ministry troops were fed dog food earlier this year to save money, a former officer in the ministry said today.

A rare whistle-blower in Russia's expansive security forces, ex-Major Igor Matveyev said officers tried to cover up the scandal and other alleged wrongdoing at the Interior Ministry troops base where he served in the Far East city of Vladivostok.

Matveyev, who served in Russia's wars against Chechen separatists in the 1990s, said he was ordered dismissed after posting a video on the Internet this month alleging widespread corruption in the Interior Ministry forces.

"It's embarrassing to say but soldiers here were fed dog food. It was fed to them as stew," Matveyev said in an interview with Reuters, adding that dog food labels were covered up with labels reading "premium quality beef."

He said he would contest a dismissal order issued by a superior after he posted the nearly 10-minute video, in which he asked President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to intervene.

A spokesman for the interior troops' eastern regional command told the RIA Novosti agency that Matveyev was dismissed from active duty on May 12 for systematic disciplinary offenses.

The command told the agency the dog food was being used to feed police dogs and was simply stored with human food.